No way Richard Pitino is telling his Gophers basketball team to ease up on shooting three-pointers.

Forget about it.

It doesn’t matter that Minnesota will be facing one of the best three-point-shooting defenses in the nation Thursday against No. 11 Ohio State at Williams Arena.

Pitino’s style comes from his father, Rick Pitino, who was one of the first college basketball coaches to live and die on threes at Providence College when the deep shot was introduced in 1986-87.

“Bombs away,” the first-year Gophers coach and Providence alum said. “We will keep shooting. We’re always going to shoot threes. I think it’s big. I’ve kind of grown up around shooting the three. I love it. I think that’s a way you can go into a Michigan State and upset some teams sometimes. I think it stretches out the defense.”

It hasn’t led to an upset yet.

There’s another opportunity Thursday night, but the Buckeyes (15-2, 2-2) lead the conference in three-point defense (26.9 percent).

The Gophers (13-4, 2-2) rank first in the Big Ten and 16th nationally in three-point field goals attempted with 388. Only Creighton (422) and Villanova (406) have taken more shots from beyond the arc than Minnesota among schools from the six major conferences.

Pitino’s team is on pace to shatter the school record for most three-pointers taken in a season. That was set in former coach Tubby Smith’s first season with shooters like Lawrence McKenzie and Blake Hoffarber contributing to the team’s 667 three-pointers shot in 2007-08.

Hoffarber, the school’s all-time leading three-point shooter, joked that he probably could have added “a few more” three-point goals in Pitino’s system.

“I think it’s great; I think it’s exciting to watch,” Hoffarber said. “Even if they miss, they’re still willing to shoot the next one. That’s what you want when you’re a shooter.”

Andre Hollins, Malik Smith and Joey King combined to hit seven first-half threes Saturday as Minnesota took a halftime lead at No. 5 Michigan State. The problem is, the Gophers only went 3 for 14 from beyond the arc in the second half and in overtime, losing 87-75.

They still finished the game shooting 10 for 26 from three (38.5 percent), which was better than their season average (35.1). So the issue is with relying too much on those long-range shots to win.

“It’s hard to do, but right now that’s the strength of his team,” Big Ten Network analyst and former Northwestern player Tim Doyle said. “And I think what’s most impressed me about coach Pitino is that he’s adjusted to the guys on his roster. He realized in practice that we’re not going to be able to play smash-mouth Big Ten basketball. Throwing the ball down low and pounding it is just not their style.”

Can the Gophers remain competitive shooting so many three-pointers throughout a full 18-game Big Ten schedule? Well, Illinois won 23 games last season while taking a conference-high 873 three-point attempts.

Smith, who had 17 points on five three-point goals against Michigan State, leads Minnesota with 36 three-pointers. Andre Hollins (33) and Austin Hollins (30) are close behind. King, Oto Osenieks and DeAndre Mathieu also are three-point threats.

Osenieks’ outside shot has improved dramatically under Pitino. He was 2 for 26 on three-point attempts last season, but the junior power forward is now 11 for 31.

“We have a lot of guys who can shoot the ball,” Smith said. “We just try to shoot the ball when we’re open. We work on it day in and day out so that we’re all pretty confident from out there.”

Smith believes he can hit a shot from anywhere behind the three-point line, but he has been one-dimensional. Seventy-eight percent of his field goals are three-pointers. He’s shooting 40 percent from long distance but only 37 percent on two-pointers.

“If I’m open, I’m still going to shoot it,” Smith said. “But (Pitino) says if they close out, to shot-fake and guys are going to fly at me, so take that extra dribble and shoot it.”

Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft is arguably the nation’s top perimeter defender. He and backcourt teammate Shannon Scott both were on the All-Big Ten defensive team last year, so it will be a test of which team’s strength rules Thursday.

“We certainly have got to understand we’ve got to establish that low-post game first,” Pitino said. “But if we have an open shot, we’re going to take it.”

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